Monthly Archives: September 2014

EUROBIKE was a super event, for everything bike. Even how to clean them.

AUTOMATIC BIKE WASHER 15,000 EURO ($19,685.00)

i want to buy an electric tandem bike for touring with Natasa. I think we could really cover some territory , with a little help.

I WANT AN ELECTRIC TANDEM AND WHAT A GREAT WAY TO TRY IT OUT! Thanks Meghan.

EuroBike is packed full of bike enthusiast. NUTCASE HELMETS, had a couple of their helmet artist paint full size “ART” near their booth. They were going auction off the paintings to raise money for WORLD BICYCLE RELIEF, you too can make a donation today!

I sent Natasa post cards (everyday), so I had to ride to town to the post office. The bike is the best for “discovering” what’s going on. I came across the farmers market, I bought a salmon sandwich, figs, fruit cobbler and blueberries, brought my lunch to Eurobike.

I LOVE FARMERS MARKETS AND STRAWBERRIES

MARKET SQUARE ART SCULPTURES

SEEDED GERMAN BREADS

ZEPPELIN PLAY GROUND ART, ACROSS FROM ZEPPELIN MUSEUM

If pedaling wasn’t enough? You can now use hand cranks and your arm power too.

PROTANIUM BIKES WERE QUITE EYE CATCHING.I LIKE THE LOOKS, BUT IF YOU HAVE A “FAST” E-BIKE, SOME FRONT OR FULL SHOCKS CAN REALLY SMOOTH OUT THE RIDE, ESPECIALLY OVER SPEED BUMPS! THEY HAVE A SHAFT DRIVE VERSION (video) TOO

I’M GETTING OLDER AND THE STEP THROUGH DESIGN IS VERY APPEALING. ESPECIALLY IF YOUR RUNNING A LOT OF ERRANDS AND ARE GETTING OFF AND ON A LOT.(or wearing a dress).

I went to some travel seminars and they are making tours that include E-Bike charging stations along the way, to keep you coming back!

E BIKE CHARGING STATION IN FRIEDRICHSHAIN

They had bins and bins of bike related publications.

THE E-BIKE MAGAZINES WERE POPULAR, THE BINS WERE EMPTY!

BACK TO EUROBIKE

EVERYONE WHO HAS A BIKE THEY WANT PEOPLE TO SEE, THEY BRING IT TO EUROBIKE.

I reached the saturation point, I couldn’t look at anymore bike stuff, interesting or not. I was done. I rode my bike to EuroBike and sold my last day ticket. It was the public day and it was PACKED, glad I wasn’t going in. I rIde next door to the Zeppelin Airport.

I PAID 3 EURO ($4) FOR A CUP OF COFFEE SO I COULD SIT AND WATCH THE ZEPPELIN LAND AND TAKE OFF, RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. OF COURSE THEY DIDN’T HAVE ANY WIFI (free or paid)?

I had been planning another adventure to Crete, Greece. I was going to visit Vincent, the French cyclist I rode with in Greece. He’s working on a farm. But after nearly 17 months and 19 countries, I’m done. EuroBike, Germany is my last country for awhile. I keep thinking the blog will end, but no. I’ve got more stories about our adventures in Skofja Loka and were going to Croatia next month, it’s only a 2 1/2 hour drive, we set a 3 hour limit to how far were willing to drive for a little vacation.

Europe is E-Bike crazy right now, so I decided that EuroBike would be a good place to see the latest in E-Bike technology. I tried to find a local ride by asking around the bike shops, no luck. The train was all day but the bus for $27 to Munich then $15 to Friedrichshafen, seemed like the best option.

WHY AM I SO CRAZY ABOUT ELECTRIC BIKES?

A recent study on the environment impact of e-bikes vs other forms of transportation found that e-bikes are about:

18 times more energy efficient than an SUV

13 times more energy efficient than a sedan

6 times more energy efficient than rail transit

and, of about equal impact to the environment as a conventional bicycle.

I took the night bus and arrived in Munich about 7am. I didn’t have a map to my “SMART STAY HOSTEL”. I asked the Kebab guy, (the only shop open) for the wifi password, NO! Some of the buses had wifi, so as the buses arrived I would stand next to them, I finally got connected and my got directions to my hostel. It was only a 1.5 mile walk. I’ve never been to Munich (photo tour) so I came a day early, to have a look around. I needed to buy my ticket to Friedrichshafen where EuroBike is being hosted. I spent nearly the whole day buying bus tickets and walking around, aimlessly. I went to rent a bike, when I finally found the location, I was told they had gone out of business. Maybe they should remove their advertisements from the hostel?

LOCAL STREET ART

I had to visit 3 different ticket sellers at 2 different locations to get all the bus tickets I needed. In some ways Germany is not very easy to navigate. Something that was super cool were the luxury buses, (once you got a ticket), they were super nice.

THE LONG DISTANCE BUSES WERE ALL ABLE TO CARRY BICYCLES TOO.

I didn’t have a room for the first night. So the tourist office hooked me up an apartment at the campground. I had emailed the campground the week before, but I never got a response. The room (with bathroom down the hall) was $80 and I had to pay to use the WIFI. The more I attempted to use the internet the more I realized there’s “a lock” on it in Germany. I got free WIFI in nearly every country I visited. Now I’m in Europe’s economic powerhouse-Germany and you must pay to play!

READY TO ROLL OUT OF THE CAMPGROUND

This time I rented a bike at the bus station, when I arrived. Missing basket, broken lights and a squeaky chain, Oh how I miss not having my own bike.

THE APPLE TREES LINED THE BIKE PATH TO EUROBIKEI

I finally get there and what do I see?

EUROBIKE IS NEXT TO THE ZEPPLIN “AIRPORT”

You can ride in a Zeppelin for 200 euro ($265) for 1/2 hour, You can save 5 euro it’s only 395 euro for an hour. i actually thought about it for a minute? Whens the next time you’ll be able to ride in a Zeppelin, I may have to come back and give it a try, maybe when I retire.

My friend, Meghan from Portland works for NUTCASE BIKE HELMETSand she got me a one-day pass, that also allowed me to buy 3 more days.

THANKS MEGHAN

NOW FOR THE BIKE PHOTO SHOW AND THE AMAZING NEW STUFF FOR BIKES

ITALIAN DESIGNED ELECTRIC BIKE (I WANT IT)

READY TO GO ANYWHERE

The fashion show was amazing. Sample Videos: #1,#2, #3 I thought it was a top event at EuroBike. The lead dancer in the 2nd video is great!

BIKE UMBRELLA

THERE WAS SOME BIKE HISTORY ON DISPLAY

The test area for the electric bikes was packed. No one was wearing a helmet (I was), we were “testing” electric bikes, watch out. There was probably 50-75 bikes on the track at once. The Stromer Electric Bikewas the 2014 EuroBike Gold Medal Winner. I had to try it, super fast! and fun!

STROMMER 45kmph (27.9 mph) Range !50km 93 miles) 6000 EURO ($7874)

I went over and tried the Raleigh Electric Bike, nearly the same specs, but 1/2 the price. I liked that it wasn’t all business, there was lots of activities going on. There was a organization from Amsterdam, that recycles the frames from abandoned bicycles.

THIS IS ONE THEIR RECYCLED BIKES MADE NEW (WITH BEER PACK)

I went to 3 days of EuroBike, it was alot. I’ve got some more photos and stories. So yep, Part II is where I will wrap up the rest of EuroBike. I will post the photo links in the next blog post.

i stopped by several different tourist offices, to try and figure out how to get on the Prague-Vienna bike path. She said you need to take bike route 12. We ride out of town and see a bike sign 12A and start following it.

WE ARE SO LOST, ROUTE 12A IS NOT ROUTE 12

The routes are well marked, but you need to know the difference between 12a and 12. We rode until we were finally convinced that we were following the wrong route 12.

CZECH IS STILL ACTIVELY BUILDING NEW BIKE ROUTES, LIKE THIS ONE ALONG THE RIVER. THAT’S NATASA AND SARA ON THEIR BIKES

We thankfully bought a bike map at the tourist office and tested our navigation skills. There are so many options, your never really totally lost.

EVEN OUR RE-ROUTE WAS BEAUTIFUL AND NEARLY CAR-FREE

WE FINALLY REACHED THE PRAGUE-VIENNA (PRAHA-WIEN) BIKE ROUTE

I WAS SO HAPPY

I KISSED THE SIGN,

We probably road 45km, at the end of the day we saw a sign to Prague 19km. I was hoping Natasa wouldn’t see the sign, but she did and was dead tired. She wanted a hotel, no camping. I asked the local policeman where there was a hotel, he drew me a map. Were in a really non-tourist town of Jílové u Prahy (photos google street map). Thenext day we ride to Sedlčan (photos google street map). The weather is looking grim, we opt for a train ride to Tabor.

NICE SUNNY PHOTO. RAIN?

OUR BIKES ARE GOING ON THAT? YES

The train that picked us up looked like a big bus. It was the cabin and engine all in one. We had to change trains, while waiting under the shelter it started pouring rain, I was glad to be taking the train. Were in TABOR (photo tour) the sister city to our home of Skofja Loka. Czech’s largest chocolate museum is in Tabor, OK we’ll go.

OUR CHOCOLATE “TEACHER” WAS SUPER HELPFUL AND HAD ENOUGH ENGLISH TO HAVE SOME GOOD LAUGHS TOGETHER.

THERE WERE MANY COLOR OPTIONS AVAILABLE

OUR FINISHED PRODUCT

THE CASTLE TOWER VIEW OF TABOR

i love taking photos of art and this one was pretty special.

THE BAROQUE STYLE BUILDINGS WERE BEAUTIFUL IN TABOR

We’re happy to be back on the road and the biking here is some of the best I’ve ever done.

THE ROAD SPLIT THE LAKE

RIDING THROUGH THESE VILLAGES IS REALLY SPECIAL AND AGAIN NEARLY CAR FREE!

This is mainly a bike touring route, but lots of cyclist enjoy the low traffic backroads.

MOST OF THE ROADS WERE IN GREAT CONDITION, THIS ONE WAS BRAND NEW.

ONE OF THE MANY RELIGIOUS MONUMENTS, IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE

Were following the Prague-Vienna bike route, but we missed a sign and end up on another bike route.

GETTING “LOST” AGAIN TURNS OUT TO TAKE US DOWN THE NICEST ROUTE OF THE ENTIRE CZECH BIKE TOUR

ANDREJA, TA SLIKA JE SAMO ZATE

This is the last night where we could camp. We’ve been carrying our tents, sleeping bags and pads, but haven’t used them yet. I wanted to camp, but the vote was 2-1.

THIS WAS OUR LAKE SIDE CABIN, IT’S REALLY COZY

The State Chateau of Hluboká

Were in the town of Hluboka, it has a CASTLE (photos). Were here and were going to visit it. What an amazing place. We weren’t allowed to take photos inside. The place was amazing, the intricate carvings in every room were flawless. The carvings around a mirror took 3 people 17 months, it was absolutely perfect. There were so many photo opportunities, but no. I look at the souvenir photo book, not the pictures I would have chosen, I don’t buy it. Now I wish I had taken some clandestin photos. Here’s a link to some INTERIOR CASTLE PHOTOS

We stop at a market on our drive back and there’s some touring cyclist from Czech.

SHE PROUDLY POSES WHILE FLYING THE CZECH FLAG AND HAS A CAR CZ STICKER ON HER COFFEE MUG. LOVE IT.

We decide to take the whole day to drive back. We stop in Linz, Austria and buy this cute garden sculpture for our garden.

Then to IKEA, for some shopping. Some parts of Europe are just like America and IKEA is just that. We must pass through 12 or more tunnels and there are these signs inside.

WHICH WAY SHOULD I GO?

All and all It was a another successful tour, got lost a few times but no injury accidents. Were home safe and sound in Skofja Loka. I’m working on a story about life in Skofja Loka. They have been remodeling the whole town, laying new cobblestone. I’ve got lots of fun pictures.

I’ve been super busy, we just got back from our Czech bike tour then I left for the Euro-Bike Expo in Friedrichshafen, Germany. I wanted to see the latest in E-Bike technology. I think the future in transportation is going to be the combination of a bicycle with electric assist. There was talk of changing the expo name to The E-Bike Show. E-bikes dominated, the show, both in number of booths and the test area was packed too. I’ll post some photos from the bike show, after this story.

I thought Czech was some of the best available bike touring I’ve done to date. I didn’t look at this map before we left, here’s the opencyclemap.org, a free to access bicycle map, mostly for Europe. I was shocked when I saw the multiple route options that I could explore the Czech Republic with a bicycle. Many of the routes were signed and there were good bike maps available at most tourist offices.

CZECH COMPETES WELL WITH THE NETHERLANDS FOR BIKING OPPORTUNITIES

We wanted to take the train to be car-free, but no, that was a 14 hour adventure with 3 train changes. It’s only a 5 hour drive, that saves almost 2 days of travel and vacation time.

We stay at the HAVANA HOSTEL, in Cesky Krumlov it was clean, cheap, very friendly and informative.

OUR BAGS BLOW-UP AT THE HOSTEL

IT WAS A NICE “CAR-FREE” VILLAGE TO WALK AROUND

The town was super cool, with the river s-ing it’s way through town, full of rafters, it was quite entertaining. It seems every town has a tower to climb and Cesky Krumlov had one too.

WE VISIT THE TOWER FIRST, TO GET A BIRDS EYE VIEW OF THE CITIES LAYOUT.

A SELFIE SHOT BY SOMEONE ELSE

We spend the day visiting museums and galleries.

WILDLIFE CANDLE HOLDER

WHEN YOU GOTTA GO AND YOU DON’T WANT TO GO ANYWHERE

A RARE SWORD WITH A GUN (just in case they survive the gun)

HUNTING WAS A HUGE SPORT, BACK IN THE DAY. MANY CASTLES ARE DECORATED WITH ELK & DEER ANTLERS

IT’S NOT RAINING, YET

The tourist office can’t tell me where the bike trail starts, so I head out on my own to find it. I always find something interesting when I’m exploring on my own. I finally find the start of the bike trail.

NO GUNS, DRUGS, TIES OR RUSSIA!

it starts raining and that includes the forecast, but Prague is dry. Our original plan was to ride from Cesky Krumlov to Prague, but after we evaluated the weather situation, we flipped the ride around. We now plan to take the train to Prague and bike back to Cesky Krumlov, where the car is parked.

We start off by getting on the wrong train going the wrong way. We can get upset, but what’s the point? We just sit back and enjoy the ride. by now it’s pouring rain outside and a train ride is much better than a bike ride, in the rain. In Prague we meet a German couple at the train station and they follow us into the Old Town Square of Prague (photos).

THE FAMOUS PRAGUE ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK

Prague is packed with tourist and biking is nearly impossible. Except when you go out at 6:30 in the morning.

THE FAMOUS DANCING BUILDING OF PRAGUE

THE WORLD’S NARROWEST BIKE LANE, (NOTICE NO ONES UP YET).

GIANT SCULPTURE: OF CRAWLING BABIES

After riding both sides of the Vltava river(photos)Natasa wants to go back to the hostel, I opt for a tour of the PRAGUE PALACE (photos).At that hour of the morning, no one was around, except the Palace guards, who told me to get off my bike (3x’s). I ‘m a little lost, but I accidently bump into the hostel were staying at, thank goodness. I did pass a farmers market on the way back. I grab Natasa and Sara and we head back to the farmers market.

THE MIXED BERRY BASKETS WERE AWESOME!

PAUL’S FRENCH BAKERY, MMMMM

WELL, I DON’T HAVE ANY

Our good friend Stanley from Royan, France was in Prague at the same time we were. We went on a hike around VYSEHRADSKE SADY (photos).

NATASA WAS REALLY ATTRACTED TO STANLEY

No trip would be complete without a visit from the Famous Rev. Phil with BIKE SMUT. He’s having a showing Prague, while were in town. We reserved him a bed in our hostel room.